SEWING ROOM ORGANIZATION CHALLENGE

Oh my…what is the Diva talking about? I would bet you thought I ran out of sewing room organizational tasks. Not so!

Since I started sewing a few years ago, I’ve managed to amass a large collection of literature related to sewing. In my library are design inspirations, reference books and a host of other printed goodies such as project instructions and embroidery designs. And unless you get your sewing literature organized, it becomes just a pile of papers. So let’s get started…

Let’s tackle your sewing patterns first.

SORT

Start by going through ALL of your patterns. Get some empty cardboard or plastic boxes and attach a label to each indicating the different categories of patterns you have. There are several ways to categorize your patterns such as:

Size – infants, toddlers, children, teens, adults

Pattern Company – Simplicity, Vogue, etc.

Style: dresses, pants, shirts, loungewear

Type: crafts, home decor, garments

Some may find a combination of the above categories works best. Do what works so you can easily find your patterns in the future. I sew mostly children’s garments and have my patterns categorized as such:

Now take one box at a time and go through the sorted patterns. Discard those patterns which are missing pieces, beyond salvaging and/or no longer of interest (no, you are never going to make that toaster cover–get rid of it).

If you aren’t able to part with your patterns just yet, put them in a box (stored outside your sewing room) and write the date on the box. If you don’t touch the box within a reasonable amount of time (6 months or a year), then it’s time to get rid of them–no excuses.

Sell (eBay, Etsy, or Craigslist) or donate the patterns you no longer need (community centers, schools, other sewing enthusiasts).

PRESERVE

Many sewers use the same patterns over and over again. For these patterns, you might want to:

I put my patterns in clear plastic top-load sleeves, by category (infants, toddler girls, home décor, etc.) and store them inside big wide binders. I then store the binders on a bookshelf in my sewing studio.

Lots of sewers keep just their pattern envelopes in binders and then store the actual pattern and instruction sheets in boxes or filing cabinets. I prefer to keep the pattern envelopes and its contents all together.

Pattern Boxes

Use pattern boxes available at your local craft stores. Depending on the size of the box, they hold between 30 to 40 sewing patterns.

Rubbermaid™ makes clear boxes with high tops. You could store 3 rows of patterns in one box. If you want to save money, visit your local dollar store for a great selection.

Pattern Hooks

I store my most utilized patterns on professional pattern hooks which all hang on a garment rack in my sewing studio.

Over the Door Storage

If you have a small pattern collection or want to display your treasured vintage patterns, get the pattern to make these Over the Door Pattern Organizers from By Annie’s. Don’t forget to use a Teflon Foot on your sewing machine when sewing with vinyl.

Pattern Inventory

So, now you that you have all your patterns under control, it’s time to put together a PATTERN INVENTORY list to keep track of those patterns you already own

Create a document in your word processing or database software entitled PATTERN INVENTORY. Make the following columns:

Manufacturer

Pattern #

Description

Sizes

Binder #

McCalls

9876

Girls Skirt

2T-4T

6

McCalls

9688

Boys Shirt

4-7

8

Use the SORT feature to organize your pattern information by DESCRIPTION, SIZES or PATTERN NUMBER. With this method, you can easily find the patterns you have using the criteria which best suits your needs.

I keep a list of the patterns I want to acquire using Microsoft Word (any word processing or database software will work). Visit some of the sewing patterns sites for the latest selection. My favorite web sites are:

Create a document entitled, “PATTERNS WANTED” with the following columns:

Manufacturer

Pattern #

Description

Sizes

Burda

9799

Boys Pants

4-7

Burda

9114

Girls Tops

2-6

Do this for EACH pattern manufacturer on a separate page. Then use the software’s SORT function to put each manufacturer’s pattern numbers in ascending order. After you’ve sorted them, condense your list to one page (if possible).

Take your PATTERN WANTED list to the fabric store with you so you can take advantage of the wonderful 99 cents pattern sales. No need to look through those huge pattern books…just access the patterns in the pattern drawers using your newly created list. Be sure to check off those patterns you purchase to keep your list up-to-date for future shopping trips.

If you are like me, you have dozens…maybe hundreds of embroidery design files on your computer. I use Husqvarna Viking’s 3D Organizer which allows me to find my designs and pictures easily. It also converts embroideries between formats or to images. You can print your designs or create a personal website gallery. You can buy it separately or with the latest version of Husqvarna Viking Embroidery Software bundle.

You can print out indexes and individual design sheets. Organize these design sheets and even your stitched out embroidery design samples in a 3 ring binder. You can sort them by category such as fonts, holidays, girls, boys, etc.

Brother PE Design software has a Design Database included with its software:

Embird has an add-on called Iconizer. It shows a small icon of the embroidery design instead of just the file name and type. This allows you to browse and sort your designs easily, because you can see the contents of embroidery files within Windows Explorer and other Windows programs.

Ann the Gran offers Catalog Xpress which works with the Ultimate Box™ and the Amazing Box™. Use Catalog Xpress categories, or create your own, then drag-and-drop embroidery designs into them as you download, including to and from your Ultimate Box™ or Amazing Box™.

BuzzXplore provides you with all the essential tools for organizing and finding your design files. You can locate, print, sort, drag-n-drop, cut, copy, paste, rename, convert, even zip and unzip files.

Pfaff Creative Organizer quickly converts your embroidery designs to and from most embroidery formats, either individually or by the hundreds. Create a personalized catalog for all of your designs, save your own notes for each design, and add designs to categories using a simple drag-and-drop method.

Embroidery Magic software has a built in embroidery design database that comes stocked with 325 stock designs by Pantograms. The Database allows the user to save and retrieve embroidery designs from specific categories.

Check out the Embroidery Dedupler software. It actual cleans up all duplicate embroidery designs on your computer according to your preferred file embroidery file types. I DEFINITELY am going to purchase this! Available only online!

If you want to put your embroidery designs on CD or disk format to use in your embroidery machine or to back-up your embroidery files you have stored on your computer, you’ll need somewhere to store your CDs and/or disks:

CD and Floppy Disk holders can easily be found at any office supply store.

These references are a wonderful addition to your Sewing Library. Consider starting a machine specific stitch reference for each sewing machine or serger you own to make your stitch selection a breeze. Create STITCH SHEETS which include information about your sewing machine’s special stitches, sample stitches on fabric, and other pertinent information such as tension settings, stitch length, and stitch width.

My Serger Stitch Workbook has to be one of the most useful tools in my Sewing Library. It includes the techniques and all necessary settings. I even have lots of fabric swatches to show the correct stitch tension. In addition, it includes all proper threading information necessary to easily convert to different stitches. No longer do I have to guess at what different tension settings work with each different fabric.

I sort all of my various sewing magazines and other periodicals in handy magazine holders which fit neatly in my shelving unit (this bookcase is in my Garden Room so I can peruse them while enjoying a nice cup of coffee). Each different publication has its own holder.

Craft Magazine Sleeves

You can store your sewing and craft magazines in these clear sleeves and keep them in binders.

I collect several pattern magazines (Ottobre, BizzKids, Topkids, Patrones Ninos and Burda). Instead of going through each magazine to find a specific pattern, I photocopy or print out (from the web) the index section. I then put the index in a clear plastic sleeve protector. I then add it to my “Magazine Patterns” binder and store it on a bookshelf with my other patterns in my sewing studio.

Free Patterns from the Internet

There are lots of great free patterns on the Internet. Be sure to print them out as they can disappear into cyberspace and be a distant memory.

Again, I put the patterns in clear sheet protectors and then in a binder divided by categories. Here’s some website which have free sewing patterns:

I keep all my design sketches, pencils and templates in the included handy plastic file case. You can also use a 3 ring binder to organize all your sketches using tabbed file dividers to categorize them.

There are so many way to sort books. I prefer to sort mine by category:

Garment Sewing

Home Décor

Serger Reference

Heirloom Sewing

Magazine and other periodicals

Design Inspiration Book

Design Sketch Book

Another Idea for Organizing Books

Kathleen Fasanella of Fashion Incubator’s wrote a great informational post on How to Organize Books

Comments

These are wonderful tips. While going through your post, I had an epiphany: my sewing/craft room is a disorganized mess because I am overwhelmed by the huge amount of work that needs to be done. So I am going to attack one area at a time, using the items listed in your post. Simple – Brilliant. Thanks Diva.

I discovered your blog about a month ago & enjoy reading it every morning! Thanks for all the tips today… they’re just great! There are some things that I’m doing already but there are several other ideas that I’m gonna try. Thanks again! 🙂

I am SO glad I found you again… you are a wonder Lisa, you cover *everything* and then some! I’m a pretty organized person but I’m often so short on time and energy – it paralyzes my brain and I don’t know what to do next. You’ve done all the legwork already. Your ideas are wonderful. Now I just need someone to get these kids out of the house long enough for me to dig in and put your tips to use. LOL! 😀

Hello it was an absolute pleasure to come across, and read your blog. You really have some interesting information that I will have to share with my wife. If your ever looking for fabrics Lauren & I would be more than willing to help. Just let us know. Have a great evening.

Like your organization. I gave up my sewing room to my son, now I have a 6 ft x 10 ft shed next to our garage for my sewing room.
I have only so much space so I am forced to be organized. I have
my fabric collection organized very similar to yours and have all
boxes labeled with hang tags as to contents. My only regret is that I have no cutting table. I must use the dining room table for my
bigger projects. Nice to see your system and will use your ideas
for my space.
Thank you.

Wow, I’ve never seen such an organized article on organization. I have one ver low tech idea for keeping pattern pieces or applique pieces together. Put them into a neat pile and put a brad through them. After suing the pattern put the brad through again.

I’m an organization nut! I have enjoyed cruising through your website and all of the various links. I promise you I’m on my way out the door to find some of these great items and to make some of the great projects. THANKS! and Happy sewing!

For the first time in 10 years, I tried to use my HV embroidery system. I have the Rose and the VIP Embroidery System with a Reader/Writer Box. I keep getting an error message indicating the Reader/Writer can not be found. Does anyone know what I could be doing wrong or where I can find someone to guide me through this? Thank you.

My sister put me onto this idea on storing patterns. You know those zippered bags that sheets come in? Well, the smaller bags can be used to hold two rows of pattern packets. There is a small pocket on the inside of the front where you can write down on paper on cardboard the patterns held inside the zippered bag.

I think I love you. Wait- I KNOW I love you!! Organizing does not come naturally to me, and after working for months to organize my craft room I was still left with a bunch of “stuff” that I thought didn’t fit into any categories. Well, I was wrong. I realized everything I have left fits into one of the categories in your 6-part series, plus you gave me about a hundred options of ways to organize them! Thank you thank you thank you!!!!

Liz…I’ve tried both methods (sheet protectors and gallon-sized ziploc bags) and have found the sheet protectors to work much better. No need to zip them shut. Just make sure you get the top-loading sheet protectors. The patterns are much easier to remove from the sheet protectors and have 3-holes to fit in the binders. HTH

lisa,
just discovered your blog and absolutely love it. you have so many great ideas and options for sewing organization!
i was wondering how your patterns keep if you place them on contact paper before cutting. i always cut to the largest size, even if i plan to use a smaller size, so i was curious if the patterns re-fold easily and if you’ve ever had any issues using a tracing wheel.
thanks for sharing!

I’m doing a big reorganization of my studio right now and of course had to come check out how my favorite Diva organizes her patterns. The pattern box system is not working for me so I think I’m going to switch to your method.

So I need advice. I am constantly reusing patterns. Especially my costume patterns. A lot of which are rare vintage patterns. I like your suggestion to iron them to interfacing but one you do how do you store it? I don’t eve the space for hanging them. I currently have them all carefully put back in original envelopes nd organized in clear storage bin that I can stick in the back of a closet. If I use the stiffener idea and am actually able to fold them back up how do I flatten out crease for next use?

[…] SEWING ROOM ORGANIZATION CHALLENGE – PART V – SEWING … – Oct 12, 2007 · Oh my…what is the Diva talking about? I would bet you thought I ran out of sewing room organizational tasks. Not so! Since I started sewing a few years …… […]

[…] and store the patterns themselves seperately in brown enevelopes.There’s some great ideas on The Domestic Diva’s blog, that I’m sure I shall incorporate! Now I have a dedicated sewing space I can get to […]